A good idea should never die, it should be recycled. Wanna-be authors may have known that for centuries, but the Internet has given this premise new life and respectability.

"Too often a good idea never reaches beyond narrow borders and is virtually lost to the rest of the world. At other times, there is tremendous duplication of time, effort and funding in searching for answers. And too often, answers are not found soon enough," said Janine Selendy, Chairman and President of Horizon Communications, a nonprofit international research and development organization.

In order to help mitigate this problem, Horizon has launched a new Internet site called "Solutions" to provide "readily accessible peer-reviewed answers to problems on environment, health, population and development." What the Solutions site does is to provide people and organizations with the opportunity to present case studies that not only encourage replication of existing projects but also inspire the development of new ones.

There are a number of international agencies that collaborate on the Solutions site such as Unicef, UN Development Programme, UN Environment Programme, UN Population Fund, International Development Research Center of Canada, Harvard and Yale Universities. For instance, the Solutions site is linked to two of UNDP's Web sites, Info21 and Sustainable Development Networking Programme.

Case studies on the site are listed under various subjects such as agriculture, air pollution, biodiversity, desertification, energy, industry, population, public health, water quality and waste management. Interested organizations and individuals that have first or second hand knowledge of "valuable, successful initiatives in the general areas of health, population, development and environment" can submit case studies to be included on the Solutions site.

A scientific review board consisting of 24 members, soon to be expanded to 30, reviews these case studies before they're put on the Web site. Fifty case studies have been approved thus far, Selendy said, with 200 cases to be approved by the end of the summer, and 500 solutions to be posted on the Web site by the end of the year.

According to Selendy, cases are reviewed by the top experts in their fields. Members of the review board include ministers, heads of organizations, deans and professors from organizations such as the US Department of Energy, Sweden's Ministry of Agriculture, The World Conservation Union, Natural Resources Defence Council, Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, Yale School of Medicine, Columbia University School of Public health, Princeton University and Pace University School of Law.

"We have averaged around 20,000 users for the site since it opened in May," said Selendy. "We are very excited by the response that's flowed in from all over the world, from places as diverse as China and the Philippines to Spain and London. And some of the case studies are already beginning to make a difference."

One of the case studies that is found under the subject of "Industry," for instance, is about the Songtaaba Women's Group, a women's cooperative in Burkina Faso. The group was formed to help women transform the previously informal activity of extracting karite butter from the karite tree into a cottage industry that they could make a living out of. In the West African region, karite butter is not only used as food, it is also used for making soap and other diverse products. In the US, Europe and Japan, karite butter is used in baking and making chocolates, in pharmaceutical products, and in cosmetics.

According to Selendy, the case study has generated a response from buyers in places such as Brooklyn, New York, and New Zealand, who are interested in helping the cooperative by using the butter in the products they produce. "This is just a small example of the potential of the information found on this site," said Selendy. "People who otherwise have no way of getting in touch with each other and learn from each other will have a chance to do so because of Solutions."

Published with permission from The Earth Times, online at http://www.earthtimes.org.

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